16 April 2014

Working like you don’t need money: the Chinese in PNG

An entry in The Crocodile PrizePNG Chamber of Mines & PetroleumAward for Essays & Journalism

PRE-HISTORIANS claim that the people occupying the island of New Guinea first migrated here over 40 thousand years ago.

Contemporary Papua New Guinean historians like Professor John Dademo Waiko agree. In the 1500s, when the first Europeans of Spanish and Portuguese origin sighted the island of New Guinea, this was just the beginning of regular European visits and the naming of islands, mountains, rivers, bays and sometimes people after European places and features.

By the late 1920s, the islands and most coastal areas of New Guinea had come into contact with Europeans of different nationalities and professions.

A few Asians of Chinese origin had also arrived in New Guinea during early times and more arrived in shiploads to work on European owned plantations in the late 1800s.

The Chinese are a cultured race whose origins and civilisation dates to more than 250,000 years ago. On arrival in New Guinea, they worked hard and did not succumb to dominant European ways.

Later they began to organise through economic activities and other dreams they pursued. The communities where they settled, built and called home later became known as Chinatowns.

Some Chinese fell in love with the people and environment of Papua New Guinea and stayed on to toil alongside the natives and Europeans in the nation building process. They could be Chinese at that time, but their children are now Papua New Guinea citizens.

Chinese helped develop many commercial centres in PNG and there are also Chinatowns in Solomon Islands and other parts of the Pacific.

The two peoples coexisted in Papua New Guinea without much official interaction until 1976, when the relationship was cemented through China’s diplomatic recognition of PNG as an independent country.

Papua New Guineans knew Chinese before they knew other Asians and continue to generalise Asians of other nationalities as Chinese.

The Indonesian who was conversant in the Pidgin creole replied, ‘Mi no Saina man, mi Indonesia man’ (Am not Chinese, am an Indonesian).

In the same way, many Papua New Guineans called Europeans ‘waitman’, thinking all of them came from the same country.

Only after World War II did Papua New Guineans come to realise that Europeans are ofmany different nationalities and black people live and work in Europe too.

The relationship between China and PNG has continued to expand over the years. There has been an influx of Chinese in PNG for different reasons.

Chinese discipline and the culture of trust, hard work and refusing to take a free meal from another’s toil sees them work like they don’t need money.

Chinese are commonly seen as owners of trade stores, restaurants and small supermarkets and are now venturing into other services.

A friend of mine told me two years ago that a Chinese tyre service owner in Lae landed a wheel spanner on a Simbu man’s head, killing him instantly, for demanding three times that the Chinese inflate his car’s tyre free of charge.

Another Chinese ventured into roadside betel nut and cigarette selling in front of the Asaro District station last year. His “buai and smuk” table was reported to be cheaper and more reliable than those of other vendors. Chinese have a business knack that is missing in Melanesian culture.

Papua New Guineans are good at taking free meals and have modified this culture to lie and scavenge on other people’s hard work.

The strategy that works well for lazy scavengers has been adapted to prey on people who work hard for a living. The term ‘claim’ is popular among landowners occupying a section of the Okuk Highway in Simbu.

They demand for some form of compensation to fix almost any landslip or pothole on the highway. We also hear that some public servants perceive the claim culture and their cut as a quick way to thicken their purse and have been unashamedly facilitating claims.

It appears that the Chinese are aware of Papua New Guineans’ aptitude for free meals, deceit and theft.

Chinese have been conservative and not open to Papua New Guineans. Over these long years of contact, Chinese culture and language has not been exposed or taught to Papua New Guineans, nor have Chinese exposed their children to PNG culture.

Many Chinese prevent their children from learning Pidgin and Motu in the early years and teach them Chinese and later English and other complex languages.

At government level, China offers scholarships to Papua New Guineans to study in China and a requirement is for interested Papua New Guineans to study basic Chinese. This is a breakthrough for PNG.

In the last decade, China has also expanded its investment throughout the Western Pacific and PNG has been a major recipient of this.

The University of Goroka has been fortunate to receive a portion of the Chinese investment loan. The Guandong Foreign Construction Company (GFCC) of China has been engaged to build a number of 6-7 story students’ dormitories, staff houses, midwife program lecture rooms and also renovating the students’ dining room.

GFCC has brought almost all of its equipment and manpower from China. The wheelbarrows that GFCC are using are different from what we would find in Chemica or Didiman Hardwares in Goroka town, so they must have come from China.

GFCC recruited a number of nationals to work in various capacities in the construction area. It is not clear how they recruited these people, but what is clear is that almost all of them were recruited from the streets of Goroka.

These people are mostly involved in the laborious part of the construction. At times they are seen tightening bolts and nuts around important parts of the building.

One afternoon, I was observing two young Papua New Guineans struggling to tighten bolts and nuts of the glass wall at the balcony of the floor facing my house.

Papua New Guinean workers and Chinese do not understand each other well. They shout at each other as if they understand.

At lunch time, Chinese drive off in truckloads for lunch and the Papua New Guineans smoke rolled tobacco, chewed betel nut and hang around the construction area.

Globalisation dictates the integration of nations and cultures. It calls for PNG and China to step up relationships.

However, the conservative tradition of Chinese people and culture poses a challenge for Papua New Guineans. This is compounded by the PNG government’s lack of institutional and policy initiative in promoting and creating a middle ground for a fair people-to-people relationship between the people of China and PNG.

In the next 10 or 20 years, China may use its economic power to promote its citizens interest in PNG and threaten the well-being of PNG’s people and cultural heritage.

Michael, I had a long chat with a young kaukau farmer from Goroka at the market in Madang and found out so many interesting things about this young men.

He was once a drug addict roaming the streets of Goroka but after he got married reality hit him like a big Hino truck. He stopped smoking and floating around and started cultivating the land for survival.

We need to write more stories about this kind of people so others can learn about them and hopefully change their behaviour.

An interesting write. We can learn from the better habits from people of other nationalities.

But perhaps we don't have to look too far for inspiration of hard work and enterprise.

For those of us in the cities, take a trip to your local fresh produce market places, think about how these people brought their products to sell inspire of the formidable challenges.

Think about the village folk, how do they get much of their food, build their house and manage to send their food to market.

And more importantly, think about the women, mothers and young girls who work hard in gardens to bring food home, with no other benefit except knowing that their family will be fed tonight.

People living in cities, the cultural melting pots, need no more encouragement in being diligent and industrious than thinking about how we managed to survive for thousands of years on the backs of hard workers.

"Only after World War II did Papua New Guineans come to realise that Europeans are of many different nationalities and black people live and work in Europe too." It is also relevant to understand that "Chinese" come from many different backgrounds. Some of the "Chinese" in PNG may be 3rd generation families from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong or Taiwan.

A good read. It is always fascinating to read about China, a cultured people and a leading economic and military power.

When I was working in Port Moresby for a short while, I frequently take my lunch in this chinese kai bar under the boroko overhead bridge.

I became a regular client and the owner-workers noticed. While ordering my usual I sit down with the newspaper and quietly observe them serving the customers unnoticed.

Young boys and men,street urchins and occasionally women would walk into the kai bar and demand an extra piece of lamb flaps or more stew on the rice after paying or even a free meal on occasions. I admired how the owner-workers would usually take the verbal attacks in their stride and not budge one bit.

Indeed we can learn the Chinese culture of pride in hard work and sweat and refusing a free meal from friends.

Bomai thanks for this article. It needed someone to write it and you did! Many equally good points can come from it. How readers respond will take the discussion into many different directions.

Barbara has a point there as well about stereotyping.

Hate them, love them or ignore them but we surely can learn one or two valuable things about how to live productive lives from the Chinese.

Many Papua New Guineans complain about how so many Chinese are in PNG seemingly taking over business and into economic activities even reserved for Papua New Guineans by law, but that is a matter left to the government and people in the appropriate public offices to look into.

Thank you Bomai for this excellent essay on the Chinese in PNG. I hope some Chinese person comments on it.

I hope the last sentence is not true. Australia too, has had a long history of mixing with the Chinese race. Our Prime Minister is trying to obtain a Free Trade agreement with China.

Back in the 1860s my grandfather sold opium to the Chinese goldminers in Carcoar on their way to the Goldfields. You were allowed to sell opium in those days. He probably also sold them a few other things that they needed.

His boss used to send him off to the goldfields with a lot of things to sell to the miners. But sadly the European miners didn't like the Chinese miners and a fight broke out and some were killed. After that not many Chinese miners arrived in NSW for a long time.

Now the Chinese have moved into my suburb in Epping. They are my neighbours. One of my best friends is a Chinese lady and when I am sick she brings me lovely food. We both support each other.

She has taught me a lot about the Chinese customs. She has become a Christian and I am now friendly with a lot of Chinese people who are Christians. I am praying for the ones who are sick and dying.

One of them was born in Rabaul, and grew up in Wewak, but fled on foot with his family in 1942 when the Japanese were coming. He was a teacher in NSW all his working life.

There is a lot more I could tell you about them. But if you can finally become friends with one you will come to realize what lovely people they are. But I guess there are good and bad people everywhere and you mustn't stereotype.

I wish you well as you continue to study the Chinese race and I hope you do beome good friends with some of them.